Rawlings still relevant – Obed Asamoah

Former President Jerry John Rawlings is still relevant in Ghana’s contemporary politics, former Attorney General Dr Obed Asamoah has said.

A section of Ghanaians especially some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have questioned the significance of Mr Rawlings in modern politics due to his constant criticism of how the NDC is being run and his opinions on national issues.

Some NDC members are of the opinion that Mr Rawlings, founder of the NDC, wants to take back control of the party and have resisted.

But speaking in an interview with Accra-based Starr FM on Wednesday, 21 March 2018, Dr Asamoah a once close friend of Mr Rawlings said “Mr Rawlings is relevant because it is good for him to constantly remind us of the values of probity and accountability.”

“He’s always hammering on it and it’s good for everybody to know that there’s somebody who is watching. Whether you are representing his party or not, he’s going to talk about it and will want you to improve upon your standard so I think it’s good and I think he’s still quite relevant,” the former Foreign Minister added.

Mr Rawlings initially came to power as a flight lieutenant of the Ghana Air Force following a coup d'état in 1979 and after initially handing power over to a civilian government, took back control of the country on 31 December 1981 as the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).

In 1992, he resigned from the Armed Forces, founded the NDC and became the first president of the Fourth Republic. He was re-elected in 1996 for a further four years and handed over power to John Agyekum Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2000.

For 18 years, he has been an ex-president contributing to national discourse.